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Color Me In by Natasha Diaz

Young adult

Color Me In

Debut

We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Natasha Diaz, on your first book!

by Natasha Diaz

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Quick take

For those out there who seem to be half-accepted in some places, but have yet to find where they're seen as whole.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Social_Issues

    Social issues

  • Illustrated icon, Inspirational

    Inspirational

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, Marriage_Issues

    Marriage issues

Synopsis

Who is Nevaeh Levitz?

Growing up in an affluent suburb of New York City, sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never thought much about her biracial roots. When her Black mom and Jewish dad split up, she relocates to her mom's family home in Harlem and is forced to confront her identity for the first time.

Nevaeh wants to get to know her extended family, but one of her cousins can't stand that Nevaeh, who inadvertently passes as white, is too privileged, pampered, and selfish to relate to the injustices they face on a daily basis as African Americans. In the midst of attempting to blend their families, Nevaeh's dad decides that she should have a belated bat mitzvah instead of a sweet sixteen, which guarantees social humiliation at her posh private school. Even with the push and pull of her two cultures, Nevaeh does what she's always done when life gets complicated: she stays silent.

It's only when Nevaeh stumbles upon a secret from her mom's past, finds herself falling in love, and sees firsthand the prejudice her family faces that she begins to realize she has a voice. And she has choices. Will she continue to let circumstances dictate her path? Or will she find power in herself and decide once and for all who and where she is meant to be?

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Check out a preview of Color Me In.

Color Me In

Prologue

One. Two. Three. Four. Six. Seven.

Squirrels dart back and forth across the park, so I count them, anything to distract myself from how bad I have to pee. The line is taking forever, but I’m not going to have an accident, not when we finally made it up to the front.

“Excuse me?” a syrup-sweet voice asks my mom as we shuffle an inch closer to the tire swing. “My daughter is riding the swing alone too, and I’ve got to take the roast out of the slow cooker. . . . I was wondering if they could go together.”

“Sure,” my mom agrees.

The lady bends down to me, meeting my gaze with Cinderella- ball-gown-blue eyes.

“Well, aren’t you just the prettiest thing?” she says. “How old are you?”

I look up at my mom for permission to talk to a stranger. She nods.

“Six,” I say, holding up the fingers to confirm.

“Five,” my mom corrects.

The woman laughs like we told the best joke in the whole wide world.

“They’re such a riot at this age, aren’t they?” she says.

“Sure are,” my mom says, remaining friendly enough not to be rude, but monosyllabic so as not to invite further conversation.

The lady points at her daughter. “That’s my Samantha,” she says. I see a small, pale girl whose light yellow hair is so fine it looks like silver thread in the sun.

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Why I love it

Who am I?

Unless you’re my super pragmatic Dad—name your 5 closest friends, and that’s you—for most of us, the road to self-discovery is no straight line. Just ask 16-year-old Nevaeh Levitz, whose world is rocked when her Black mom and Jewish dad split, forcing Nevaeh to relocate from her affluent NYC hood to her mom’s more modest family home in Harlem. But while the physical move is certainly discombobulating, it’s easily the least significant shift, for Nevaeh quickly embarks on a seismic spiritual and emotional journey.

In less capable hands Color Me In could’ve quickly melted into a syrupy after-school special, or worse, a novel-length lecture chock-full of worn-out platitudes. But impressively, Diaz delivers a nuanced, thoughtfully-balanced approach to the easily incendiary issues of race, economics, religion, and education. Not only does Diaz draw beautifully flawed (read: messy) characters, but she somehow manages to infuse humor—I lost track of how many times I laughed audibly—and love; not only romantic, which I’m always a sucker for, but a rich affinity between family and friends.

And I’m not going to conclude this review with some cheesy joke like COLOR ME AMAZED because this story deserves far better. Diaz’s awesome debut is a timely reminder that, at our best, we are always evolving, steadily growing creatures. That who we are will never be easy to pin down—sorry, Dad. That in the end, we create ourselves.

COLOR ME IMPRESSED. (Couldn’t resist.)

Member ratings (679)

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Inspirational
View all
What Does It Feel Like?
The Life Impossible
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
The Same Bright Stars
Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life
Did I Ever Tell You?
The Last Love Note
The Many Lives of Mama Love
The Connellys of County Down
The Collected Regrets of Clover
A Quiet Life
The Circus Train
We Are the Light
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
Bittersweet
The Unsinkable Greta James
Peach Blossom Spring
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
Somebody's Daughter
Will
The Choice
A Little Hope
Send for Me
More Myself
This Close to Okay
The Last Story of Mina Lee
The Beauty in Breaking
The Boyfriend Project
Untamed
Yes No Maybe So
Throw Like a Girl
Full Disclosure
Color Me In
Symptoms of a Heartbreak
Things You Save in a Fire
All the Light We Cannot See
The Girl Who Smiled Beads
The Great Alone
The Heart’s Invisible Furies
The Moor's Account